Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector-General Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz yesterday patronized the opening of the first symposium dedicated to discussion of rationalization of water usage and development of water resources. At a press conference following the meeting, Prince Sultan stressed the need for awareness of avoiding over-consumption of water.

In his speech, Minister of Agriculture and Water Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Mu'amar reviewed the Kingdom's water projects such as building dams, digging wells, setting up water reservoirs, and extending pipelines. He noted that there are now 1,320 of these projects, including 197 dams with a total storage capacity of over 800 million cubic meters. The Kingdom, he said, is the world's largest producer of desalinated water, with 28 plants along its coasts that have a daily production capacity of 800 million gallons of water. In addition, they generate 4,500 megawatt of electricity.